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May 31, 2012

Well, nothing new here now! This is an old childhood favourite of mine and I have no clue how popular this sweet treat is in other parts of the world. All I can say that in Hungary probably every household has its own recipe. I must say, I haven't prepared this before, but today I felt so nostalgic and was pretty down. What else could have been more comforting than something from those "good old days"?!

Bring sugar with water and cocoa to the boil. In the meantime ground the biscuits. Add diced butter and chocolate to the syrup and cook until it is melted. Add ground biscuts and just enough ground walnut so that the batter is not runny. Stir in coarsly chopped nuts and biscuits and the rum. You can also add the rum while the cooking processes, I prepfer to add it at the end because then it is more intense. Place a foil onto the working surface and form 2-3 salami. Chill for a few hours or better over night then roll into icing sugar.

May 28, 2012

It's ice cream time! If you ask me it doesn't have to be warm to enjoy this cold treat. Ever since my childhood I loved ice cream, even in winter the minimum amount that started with were 10 balls of ice cream. Those days I used to say that I could live my life eating only crepe and ice cream. Meanwhile a few salty dishes jumped onto my list. Anyway, this post is about ice cream and my other big love cheese. Why not bring together in one? This camembert ice cream is flavoured with rosemary and served with balsamic vinegar marinated strawberries.

Bring milk together with the rosemary to the boil. In the meantime whisk egg yolks with sugar until foamy. Sieve hot milk and pour to the egg yolks while whisking. Remove the peel of the camembert, cut cheese in cubes and stir it into the milk. Warm it until it thickens, but do not cook. Remove from the heat, let it cool and leave the rest of the job for the ice cream machine. Serve with balsamic vinegar marinated strawberries.

May 22, 2012

Another dish that is unknown in its country of origin or let's say chicken tikka masala is the same for India what spaghetti bolognese for Italy. After all this hybrid was born in Great Britain when some Bangladeshi chefs tried to create Indian dishes that cater British tastes. According to a story an Indian chef served traditional chicken tikka (in tandoori oven cooked chicken that was marinated in a yoghurt and spices) to guest, who didn't like it, because it was too dry and asked for a gravy. So the chef improvised one based on a tomato soup that he flavoured with Indian spices. If this really happened or not is impossible to find out, especially since in 2001 Iqbal Wahhab, who is the owner of a elegant Indian restaurant, said that he invented this story. Anyway, meanwhile this combination of tikka and masala is claimbed by a number of places in England and of course there are many explanations for it. Allegedly, it was like a wildfire in the 60ties and 70ties on the menu of the restaurants. Anyway, one thing is for sure that the chicken tikka masala was inspired by Indian dishes like murg makhani or butter chicken, where the tandoori chicken is served in a buttery tomato sauce.

However, it is not that simple as it seems! Heston Blumenthal travelled to India to find out more and things got even more confusing. He met several people who insisted that it was an Indian dish, after all spices belong to India. Finally, when he was back in England he went to his favourite Indian restaurant to have a plate of chicken tikka masala. Only now he realised that what he really loved about the dish was coconut milk.

There is no better proof of Blumenthal's vocation in the search of perfection than the MRI scan to find out if the marinade penetrates the meat or only coats the surface. That helped to find the best way of preparation of the chicken meat. The best result was achived with the chicken that had the rub for 5 hours and was marinated for 10 hours. So everything was ready for cooking, however an ordinary housewife has no tandoori oven at home. Blumenthal found a simple, yet effective way to solve this problem. Well, we do not own such a grill and I didn't want to buy one, so we improvised.

The preparation? Well, it is neither complicated nor time consuming! Everything starts the same way like with the perfect roast chicken: the chicken thighs spend 6 hours in salty water, then another 2 in water where you gotta change it every 30 minutes. Okay, that is the worst part, but it is worth it! Then comes the preparation of the rub using raw and baked garlic, ginger and olive oil. The deboned chicken thighs spend 5 hours in the rub. After it is time for the yoghurt marinade that contains home made garam masala (coriander, green and black cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, cumin, mace, bay leaf) chili and fenugreek leaves. I didn't manage to get the leaves so I used ground fenugreek, but only a 1/4 of the required amount. After 10 hours of marinating it is time to cook the chicken! And finally, you only have to prepare the masala. For this you need a pressure cooker, but I do not own one, so I baked the tomatoes covered in foil in the oven. Then the rest is really quickly: add ginger, baked garlic, chili, yoghurt and coconut milk. Finally, stir in cashew nut butter and butter and sprinkle with melon seeds and fresh green chili. Serve with freshly baked naan and enjoy.

May 21, 2012

The white asparagus-strawberry combination is nothing new here at the "corner", after all you might have already seen once in a dessert. So it was naturally that I gotta cook a jam of these two. Together with vanilla and orange it made a delicious and pretty addictive jam, at least as far as I am concerned.

Peel asparagus and cut the ends off, then take these parts and add just enough water so that it is covered and cok for 15-20 minutes, then sieve. Now take the reserved liquid, add sliced asparagus, strawberries, lemon juice and zest, vanilla pod and previously scrapped seeds, gelling sugar and agar-agar. Cook for 30-40 minutes and if you want puree or leave it as it is. Pour into sterlised jars and leave them to cool covered well in some blanket until it has cooled down completly.

May 18, 2012

Probaly, I have mentioned already that once in a while I like to give a new chance to products that I actually don't like at all. Yesterday, I found beautifully fresh rocket salad in a farmer's shop and I just couldn't resist, altough it is really not my cup of tea. It was a good idea to go for it once more, because I kinda liked it in the beurre blanc, however the satueed leaves on top of the fish were just to much for me, however it is definetly something for those who like rocket. If beurre blanc then fish is not far! This time a nice zander filet made it onto the plate with black trumpet puree, white asparagus sabayon and polenta. I hope nobody throws away the peel and the ends of white asparagus, because it is the perfect base for a soup or sauce.

In case you cook normal polenta, then follow the instructions on your package. Otherwise bring stock to the boil, stir in the white polenta and cook for 30-40 minutes while stirring all the time. When cooked stir in the parmesan, butter and cream, season. Pour it into any kind of form and let it cool. Before serving slice polenta and fry in butter until golden brown. For the rocket beurre blanc melt butter, add chopped shallot, then the wine, vinegar and the stock. Cook until there is about 1/4 left. Now blend it with the butter and rocket, season. For the mushroom puree sautee chopped shallot in butter, add the previously soaked black trumpet and the stock and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Puree together with the liquid, butter and thyme leaves, then puree. Put it back onto the stove and "dry" over low heat for about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. For the sabayon reduce asparagus stock with wine together with chopped shallot and some leftover asparagus ends and peel. Add egg yolk and mix together, then beat it over steam until foamy. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and a few drops of lemon juice. Season with seared zander, green asparagus and in butter sauteed rocket.

May 17, 2012

If I am not wrong, it's been about 4 years ago that I cooked a jam for the first time. Not because I was keen to do so, but the fruit wasn't really tasty, so I hoped that a jam would bring the best out of it. As it turned out pretty okay, I decided to experiment around with other fruits. Somewhen I developed the recipe for this rhubarb jam made with apples that became a favourite in my family. I also cooked pure rhubarb jam, but the one in combination with apple turned to be the winner every time. This time I added some port wine to it, and that was a real good idea. By the way, feel free to add spices like cinnamon, star anise, cardamom or even some black pepper gives a nice kick to it!

Wash rhubarb and cut the ends off, then slice in about 2 cm thick pieces. Peel apples, remove the core and cut in about 1 cm pieces. In a large pot bring it to the boil together with the sugar and port wine and cook for 50-70 minutes or until it thickens. If you want a smooth jam now it is the time to puree. Put it back to the stove, add vanilla extract and cook for another 10-20 minutes. Pour into sterlised jars and leave them to cool covered well in some blanket until it has cooled down completly.

May 16, 2012

Even if I wanted, I couldn't deny that this plate was inspired by René Redzepi. Once more I got back to my favourite combination: beetroot and goat's milk cream cheese. Finally, I managed to get some spring beets that are completly edible. The beet is both raw and cooked on the plate and even the cooked stalks of the leaves are used as part of the vinaigrette. The green fir honey goes well with both of the main ingerdients and some henbit deadnettle leaves completes the dish. Ah, and creamy goat's milk cream cheese is hiding behind the crispy coat and surpises you when you take the first bite.

Combine goat's milk cream cheese with the finely chopped herbs, season with salt and pepper. Roll 8 balls and freeze them for an hour. Then coat with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and repeat the process. Deep fry frozen goat's milk cream cheese balls in oil on 180°C. Cook two of the beets and then peel both the raw and the cooked ones. Slice thinly with the help of a mandoline. Peel rhubarb and cut in small cubes together with the shallot. Mix these together with the rest of the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Season.

For years I have been postponing every recipe with a meringue topping. Why? Maybe because I am not so much a fan of meringue, for example I also do not like floating island, of course the custard is yummy, but the egg white part? Brrr...not for me! And there is the famous lemon meringue pie that was on my list for years and still haven't baked it. But then I saw Vera's amazing pie with strawberry and tonka bean and finally that made me to try a pie with meringue. Why is my meringue so purple? Well, the answer you'll find in the recipe.

Wash and if needed peel rhubarb and cut in about 2 cm pieces, then marinate with sugar and elderberry syrup. For the pie cream butter with sugar, then whisk in the egg yolks, flour, baking powder and the yoghurt. Whisk until you have a smooth batter. Butter a 18 cm round baking form and flatten the batter into it. Sieve rhubarb and together with the diced strawberry put on top of the cake batter. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes on 170°C. For the meringue bring sugar with water to the boil and as soon as it has reached 110°C start beating the egg whites until it is half stiff. When the syrup has reached 121°C remove from the heat and when it stops bubbeling add in a thin strain to the halfly beaten egg white while beating continously. Beat until it forms stiff peaks. Now beat in the syrup and the beetroot powder. Remove the side of the cake form and put meringue on top of the pie, bake for another 5-7 minutes or until it browns here and there a little.

May 15, 2012

I was just completely confused about what's the difference between a fricassée and a blanquette. Like so often the more you read, the worse it gets and suddenly you are lost. Checking the Larousse (Hungarian translation) also didn't help, at least I couldn't find out what the difference really is. So I needed the help of Escoffier and like so often, there it was: everything crystal clear! A fricassée may be prepared either of poultry, veal or even fish. A blanquette is usually made of veal or other type of meat, however you also find veal fricassée. So what's the difference?! Both are thickened with a mixture of egg yolk and cream. However for a blanquette first you blanche the cubed meat in water, then you cook it in the stock and prepare the roux in a seprate pot. For a fricassée first you fry the meat in butter without browning and then this meat is sprinkled with flour and cooked in white stock. Traditionally are both served with white champignons and pearl onion, but in case of a fricassée that is always cooked together with the meat. Well, my fricassée isn't quite traditional, because I used white asparagus, peas and only a few pearl onions. Nevertheless it was so delicious!

First you have to prepare a white chicken stock using the following spices like bay leaf, black pepper, 1-2 clove, allspice and this time with the addition of some white wine. Opposed to the traditional way of preparation I cooked the peeled asparagus in salted water with lemon zest and a pinch of sugar seperately. The pea and the pearl onion was also cooked in salted water and added to the dish before it is almost ready. Melt butter and fry cut chicken parts in it, but do not let it get brown. Sprinkle with flour and add the previously prepared chicken stock, then cook for 15-20 minutes. After add the precooked vegetables, add salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Stir in with the cream mixed egg yolks and season with a few drops of lemon juice.

May 14, 2012

After an overindulging weekend I wanted something very light for today's lunch. As I anyway bought too many bunches of radish on the market, I wanted to make something that needs a lot of them. I have had the idea of radish soup already for a while on my mind, but I always postponed it. I definitely wanted to cook the radish, but it was important to keep its colour, therefore I prepared a stock using potatoes and then I used that to cook the radish for a few minutes. During the morning walk I collected some ramson flowers, ground ivy, yellow archangel, henbit deadnettle that brought spring right onto the plate.

Peel and cut potatoes in cubes. Sautee chopped onion in a teaspoon butter, add diced potatoes, bay leaf, caraway seeds and vegetable stock. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Now sieve and set the liquid aside. You won't need the cooked potatoes for the soup, but do not throw away, instead make a puree or use in some kind of yeast dough that needs cooked potatoes. Sautee sliced radish in the other teaspoon of butter, add the potato liquid and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour the soup into a mixer, add yoghurt and puree, season with salt and pepper. If you want a really smooth soup sieve. Serve the soup either lukewarm or chilled. For the oil puree about 1/4 of the radish leaves with the rapeseed oil.

May 11, 2012

There are plenty of vegetables and fruits out there that would make the perfect combination, but they are just not in season in the same time. For example white asparagus is amazing with a blood orange hollandaise. Sometimes a fresh cucumber would just be the perfect ingredient that a dish needs, but no season yet, so it is not available from a local producer, at least not free range. I believe that products that are common in your area you should only buy when it is in season, it is worth to wait for local strawberries, asparagus and so on. Your reward is going to be an explosion of flavours. Of course not everything is automatically bad that comes from abroad. But it is good if you check if that veggie or fruit is in season in that particular country that time of the year. So you know that it has seen some sun and it is not from tunnel or whatever. Of course it is not that easy to resist, but I believe that it is really stupid and negligent to sell strawberries in February or watermelon already in April! Altough, I really care very much for the products that I use in my kitchen and I try to get everything from local producers, once in a while I can't resist. A juicy mango, artichokes or avocado happen to get into my shopping basket. But after all one shouldn't be too strict, because then we all can stop eating chocolate, drink coffee or even use pepper. These gorgeous tomatoes are from Sicliy and called Marmadino. They are in season from the middle of February until May. I simply love Sicily and everything that comes from there, so it was impossible to say no to these. They have a truly amazing flavour, just wow. No wonder that they were gone pretty fast among some buttered bread, so I used some tomato juice for the soup.

Peel and dice the onion, garlic, ginger, celeriac and sautee in hot oil for a few minutes. Add sliced rhubarb and sugar and let it caramelise a little, then add port wine and reduce. Then add the tomato juice and the spices packed in a muslin. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, then remove the spices, puree and season. Then add the bunch of basil and leave it on the hot plate for 5 minutes, then remove. If the soup is too thick add some vegetable stock and some sugar if needed. Some frehsly grated orange zest give a nice kick to the soup.

May 10, 2012

Today it was time for something light and it is pure spring. Asparagus, fresh pea and fava beans, sorrel and chervil - everything so green! Imagine the runny egg yolk that melts together with the parmesan and the asparagus. What more do you want! There is nothing better that I could imagine during spring time. The acidity of the sorrel and the almonds give a tiny kick to the whole dish. I would suggest to use peas instead fava beans, if you have the opportunity to get some real young and tender ones, go for it!

Cut the asparagus in 2-3 cm pieces, but set the heads aside. Sautee chopped shallot in butter, then add asparagus, peeled fava beans and port wine. As soon as the wine has absorbed add thyme leaves and cook together with the milk for 2 minutes. Puree and mash it through a strainer. Season and stir in the eggs. Pour it into buttered forms and place them into a baking pan that is filled with water. The water should reach half way up the forms. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven over 150°C. For the parmesan foam bring cream to the boil, stir in the freshly grated parmesan and let it melt, then foam it up with a blender. For the egg yolks preaheat the oven to 70-75°C, while that melt butter, remove any foam and leave it on the stove until it gets brown. Let it cool to lukewarm and then glide the egg yolk carefully into the molten butter. Leave it for 10-13 minutes in the oven. Season before serving. Sautee asparagus in butter and season with salt and pepper. Serve the flan among the asparagus heads, sorrel, chervil and roasted almonds.

May 9, 2012

Simply, I couldn't get the missing violet colour of the lilac jelly, I just had to do something! So it was clear that I am going to prepare something else using lilac. First I had the idea of a sorbet, but it was impossible to get the freezing element of the machine into the freezer, therefore I decided for a parfait. It still was quite a task to find a tiny place in the freezer for them, but I managed. However, the parfait turned to be rather white-yellow, then violet. Tough below, you can see how intense the lilac water is and the syrup! Breathtaking colour, don't you think? But it wasn't intense enough, and even the fragrance of the lilac has disappeared, once it was whisked with the egg yolks. I thought, I have to give up, but then I started again and added lilac jelly to the parfait base. So once more, I managed to save the taste, but no colour. Anyway, next year I am going to give another go, but then, with the dark violet petals.

First prepare the syrup: bring 50 ml lilac water with 50 g of sugar to the boil, cook for a few minutes, then let it cool. In another pot bring water to the boil, and in another mix together the egg yolks with the syrup. Put it over the water bath and whisk until it is thick and creamy. Then remove from the heat, stir in the lilac jelly and fold in the beaten cream. Fill in any kind of form you desire and freezer for 2-3 hours. For the crispy almonds melt butter with the water and honey, then remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 170°C. With a help of a cookie cutter flatten equal and even rounds of the batter onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

May 8, 2012

Attention! The soup is sour, really sour! I didn't want to make a sweet soup or even to combine the rhubarb with strawberries. I rather had the idea of a spicy and sour soup that is served cold. I wouldn't say that it is going to be my favourite, but it is indeed refreshing, now we only need real warm weather to enjoy it. If you want it less harsh, then add some heavy cream or even more sugar.

Ingredients:1 shallot10 g butter300 g rhurbarb3 tablespoons sugarjuice of 2 oranges3 cm fresh ginger1 star anise2 cm cinnamon2 pinches freshly grated nutmeg450 ml vegetable stocksalt, pepperSautee chopped shallot for a frew minutes in butter. Add sliced rhubarb, sugar, grated ginger and the rest of the spices. Pour freshly pressed orange juice and stock over it and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove spices and puree. Season with salt, pepper, some ground cinnamon and nutmeg. In case you add some cream, then cook it together with it for about 5-7 minutes. Serve warm or cold with fresh goat's or sheep's milk cheese.

May 7, 2012

Last weekend finally, finally, the first local strawberries have arrived among the first green asparagus. Heavenly! Okay, the strawberry spent some time under foil, but still it is local and I couldn't resist any longer! Anyway, back to the asparagus! I absolutely love love love to eat green asparagus raw, especially when it is so tender like these. Originally, I planned to serve it simple with poached egg and parmesan, but then I had the idea to combine it with pistachio and prepare a light starter with perch and some confit potatoes.

In a small saucepan melt butter, add chopped shallot, wine, vinegar and stock. Bring to the boil and reduce until there is about 1/4 of the liquid left. Whisk in the cold butter chervil with a help of a blender. Season with salt and pepper. Cut asparagus in thin slices and set the spears aside. Puree pistachio with oil and mix with the raw asparagus slices. Season with sherry vinegar, salt and pepper. Cut potato in any shape you like, but it shouldn't be bigger than 2-3 cm. Melt clarifed butter and heat until it reaches75-80°C then add the potatoes and leave it there for about 15-20 minutes by constant temperature. Season before serving and sprinkle with finely ground pistachio. Fry asparagus heads and mushroom in butter, season.

May 6, 2012

Well, I must confess that I have been dreaming of creamy dark chocolate ice cream with salted peanuts for weeks, but I just did not have to time to make it. Later, I had to idea to bring some excitment to the whole thing and so these tartelettes were born. Though no ice cream here, but instead an intense chocolate mousse that goes prefectly well with the salted peanuts caramel. It is already the second bunch that I baked this week, oh yes!

For the pastry sieve flour and icing sugar and make a mold into the middle. Add diced butter and salt and crumble butter with flour. As soon as it well crumbled add the egg and knead a smooth dough. Chill for 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 200°C Roll out pastry about 2-3 mm thick and place them into the tartelettes rings and blind bake for 7-11 minutes, then cool on a wrack.Peel peanuts and roast over medium heat, then pour it into a bowl and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Over low heat melt sugar with water and as soon as it has a golden brown colour add butter and cream and whisk together. Cook for 2-3 minutes add the salted peanuts and put about 2 tablespoons into each tartelettes shell.For the mousse melt chocolate over steam, add lukewarm milk and whisk together. Whisk in the egg yolks. Beat egg whites with sugar and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Chill for about 2 hours, then pipe it on top of the salted peanut caramel layer.